Live From China

One of the things that bothers me about all of this is that we must adhere to very tight time lines. There is literally no time for remedial work or extra practice. Students who are struggling or having difficulty, continue to do so. Their needs are sacrificed to the "gods of timetabling" and scheduling. There are year plans, unit plans and endless forms about forms. All this garbage takes away from the real reason for teaching: the students. And teachers become nothing more than clones. I predict many problems will arise from this slavish, mindless nonsense!

I still don't get your point, Griz. I have a hunch a lot of others don't either. What really bugs me about this is the unilateral way in which these decisions are made. Bloody wankers in Victoria sit in their offices with their master's degrees and act superior and think they know what's best for everyone. Just become someone is in a position of power and is supposedly well educated doesn't mean they come up with good ideas. In fact, education is, plain and simply, full of bad management making bad decisions.

Sorry, Molly, teaching at a private school doesn't answer the question. The school is required to teach the BC curriculum. Thus, I am assuming this is a province-wide edict.

Griz, where does this stuff about "indians" come from? No one has made a single reference to this on this thread!

I don't. That's why I am asking.

How accountable does one have to be? Let me explain. I teach at a private school. "Suddenly" the administration wants each teacher in each department to be teaching the same topic on the same day. For example, if you are teaching acceleration in physics, then on Sept. 15th, all the physics teachers must be teaching the same aspect of that topic on the same day. No allowances for student abilities or difficulties. In addition, all tests must be identical. All labs must be identical. At a meeting, we were even told we should not tell an interesting story if it was not directly related to the topic at hand. Finally, no marks can be deducted for an assignment being late because that is a behaviorial issue and not an academic one. Is this part of the BC government's aim at accountability in education? I personally have never heard of anything so kooky! How was I able to teach (and very successfully I might add!) for over 20 years without be hampered by this ultra-right-wing-control-to-the-nth-degree attitude?

But I am incredibly suspect of the so-called legitimate testing. The educated professionals invent a new syndrome or disorder with a whole pile of symptoms. Then they test for the symptoms. But if the disorder is fake to start with ........

Again, GostHacked, well said. Your post is hilarious, but the reality is that this shows a sad state of affairs when we have to label every "unusual" behavior being part of some disorder. Had a friend whose dad went out every Friday after work for one (literally one) beer, and suddenly some New Age pop psychology fanatic said, "Oh, he's an alcoholic." Like lots of sex? Oh, your a sex addict. Laugh at your own jokes and it is supposedly the sign of some kind of disorder. And on and on it goes.

I'm with you GostHacked. I think many of these so-called disorders are plain and simply made up. Oh, he or she doesn't like wearing sweaters in the winter because they are hot and confining. Oh, that is one of the signs of Asperger's Syndrome, or whatever. Yeah, sure!

If we have to have a ridiculous no-fly list, why aren't people informed when they go to buy a ticket rather than at the counter after they have purchased their ticket?

People might find the following interesting: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.h...a4-20a411de4e71 This is the same government who just voted itself massive pay raises, while at the same time refusing to raise BC's minimum wage. Campbell didn't even have the guts to face the press after this legislation was passed. It seems to me their unmitigated arrogance has turned around to bite them.

OK, a question about lie detector tests in the US: are there any states in which the results of a lie detector test are admissible in court?

Well, this topic is of great interest to me, especially now that I have had a chance to work in the People's Republic and therefore have had a chance to observe the affect of diet in two cultures. My observations are anecdotal, so bear with me. In China, people tend to be thin. The diet still mainly consists of rice, vegetables, meat (in small amounts), chicken and fish. The protein content varies from region to region. This type of diet seems to be accepted internationally as being healthy. Now, there is also a quickly growing middle class in China and along with that the money to "experience" Western food. McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. are everywhere in the larger centres. There is also a concern in China that middle-class people are getting fatter as a result. This is also influenced by fact that exercise is for kids or students. When you leave school you get married, have a family and work long hours. Of course, this also influences weight gain. I got a real "eye opener" from one of my students. He was getting excited at the prospect of going to Canada for university and was perusing a picture book on Vancouver. He pulled me aside and showed me a picture of the Seawall in Stanley Park on a beautiful day. His question? Not, "Where is this?" or anything like that. He pointed to the people in the picture (of which there were many) and asked, "Are all people in Canada this fat?"

Come on now, you can't be that bad! I think most of Canada is similar to Alberta: 10 months of winter, followed by 2 months of lousy snowmobiling, snowshoeing and skiing!